Leon founder: Labour ‘killing’ restaurant industry April 7, 2026 The founder of fast food chain Leon has accused the government of “killing” the restaurant industry by saddling the industry with a crushing tax burden. John Vincent, who founded Leon and recently bought it back, said on Tuesday “everyone knows restaurants are done” because of the government’s treatment of hospitality. The government has faced intense [...]
The Lake District but thrilling, with yacht trips and 4×4 off-roading April 7, 2026 THE LOCATIONA designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Lake District is the UK’s most famous national park, renowned for its glacial lakes, rugged mountains and rich literary heritage. Visitors are drawn by landscapes that inspired artists such as J. M. W. Turner and John Constable, as well as by opportunities to hike or climb in [...]
I’m in my 30s – here’s why I choose staycations over foreign holidays April 7, 2026 A staycation helps me switch off and reconnect with my home in new ways I was standing in the middle of a beach on the British coastline. The sand was fine and golden, and the horizon was clear so I could see for miles. I was in Camber Sands in East Sussex in the village [...]
‘Indian food is a universe’: Making a home at Chet Sharma’s BiBi April 2, 2026 Quietly but surely, Chet Sharma is serving up some of the tasty plates of food in London. Carys Sharkey meets the chef reimagining fine dining with a healthy serving of nostalgia If you make your way down Oxford Street, past the shops slinging vapes and candy to indiscriminating kids, weaving through the preachers confirming your [...]
Make foreign tourists pay to keep museums free for Londoners April 2, 2026 Free museum entry isn’t the feel-good policy you think it is. Time to charge foreigners and keep our precious collections free for Londoners, says James Ford Is the idea of charging foreign tourists for access to major museums and art galleries really that radical a proposal? Judging by the reaction from some corners of the [...]
Hotel investment tops £1bn in bumper start to year April 1, 2026 UK hotels attracted more than £1bn investment in the first quarter of this year, as the sector defies business rate rises and market uncertainty caused by the Iran war. Hotel investment volume surpassed £1.1bn in the first three months of the year, marking a 63 per cent increase on the £680m recorded in the same [...]
Two-thirds of hospitality firms to cut jobs as April tax rises ‘suffocate’ sector April 1, 2026 Two-thirds of hospitality businesses will be forced to cut jobs and one in seven will shut altogether as a direct result of “suffocating” April tax rises, leading trade bodies have found. More than half (51 per cent) of hospitality firms will cancel investment plans and 42 per cent will reduce trading hours, according to a [...]
“MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives” Opens in Tokyo March 27, 2026 An experimental museum exploring the future of culture for the next hundred years
The new Simpson’s in the Strand is a classic for a new generation March 25, 2026 The culinary calendar is hotting up and the Square Mile and its surrounds are right amongst it. This week I turn to two restaurants in the City of London and the hotly-anticipated ‘new opening’ on the Strand, Simpson’s by Jeremy King. Kolamba East I first discovered Kolamba during the pandemic. One of the few successful [...]
The inside story of the controversial Southbank skate park March 25, 2026 Beginning with the construction of the Royal Festival Hall in 1951, the Southbank Centre in its current form was completed in 1968. When the Queen Elizabeth Hall was added in 1967, the space (or undercroft) beneath the venue’s walkway was designed as somewhere for visitors to sit and take in the view across the Thames. [...]